Typically, the utility demand (demand for electricity, natural gas, heating, cooling, etc.) of buildings and building complexes, like hospitals, office buildings, military bases, campuses, etc., depends on three principle factors: time of day during which the utility demand is occurring; the “type” of day (weekday, workday, holiday, etc.) when the utility demand is occurring; and the weather conditions, primarily outdoor temperature, existing at the time when the utility demand is occurring.
It is common for an energy company to include, in a billing statement, numerical data and/or graphical depictions of electricity and/or natural gas demand, on a monthly basis, for the previous twelve months. This allows a consumer to compare, for example, the electricity demand for January 2006 with the electricity demand for January 2005. This provides the consumer with information regarding the total electricity demand for an entire month and gives no detailed information regarding the outdoor temperature during that month, the weather conditions, and the like. Further, since the data is given on a per-month basis, daily profiles, temperature, different consumption patterns for holidays and weekends, etc. are not taken into account. It would be desirable to have a simple and transparent way of characterizing and forecasting utility demand with more detail than has previously been available.